Landslide in China

Region:

Nearly 1,300 people were missing after heavy rains and landslides created a torrent of mud and floodwaters that buried at least 300 low-rise homes and gouged chunks out of multi-storey concrete homes in Zhouqu County in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province. The region is dominated by steep and barren hills.

Upstream from the disaster, demolition experts and geologists were working frantically to drain a lake that had built up behind a barrier of landslide blockage. With more rains forecast for this week, there would be fresh tragedy if the unsecured dam bursts, creating a new mud flow.